The Other Inhabitant
by Abigail Tracy
Summary: It seems the Tracy family aren't the only ones on their little isolated Island...


**Disclaimer**

I do not own any of the characters except Sarah.

**The Other Inhabitant****  
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"Only to find out that he had a bomb that was due to go off in five minutes!" Gordon added. It was a beautiful summer's day and Scott, Virgil and Gordon had just come back from a pretty extreme rescue. They were now all outside by the pool telling Jeff what had happened.

"Well it's a good thing you're still with us." Jeff said.

"You can say that again." Scott muttered.

"By the sounds of it, you boys have seen enough action to last us a year!" Tin-Tin added, suddenly appearing with a tray of cold drinks.

"You bet we have!" Virgil said.

Scott looked up at Tin-Tin. Neither of them had told anyone but Scott knew that Alan and Tin-Tin were a couple. He could tell by the way that they looked at each other. The conversation that was progressing around him faded out as he remembered the group of girls that they had to rescue during their last mission. For the first time in his life, Scott had begun to think about relationships. He wondered if he would ever even be in one, what with having a double life that comes with being a main member of International Rescue. He wondered who a girl would be more likely to fancy, Scott Tracy the son of a multi-millionaire or Scott Tracy the pilot of Thunderbird 1 who has saved many lives. Things that make you go "hmmmm".

Alan Tracy shone his torch on his watch. He had been gone about 1 hour. He had about 2 more hours and then he would have to turn back. Alan loved to explore the natural underground caves of the island. Sure he was an astronaut but he always felt more at home in the caves, more secure. He liked the idea that he was alone, where no-one could hear or see him. He also liked the idea of possibly discovering something new at any minute.

Half an hour later, Scott was sat in the pilot seat of Thunderbird 1, flying 1,500 meters above Tracy Island.

"O-okay Scott. Turning the camera on… n-now." Brains' voice came over the radio. Recently the automatic camera detector had been playing up a bit, so now Brains had fixed it; Scott was helping Brains run some tests to make sure it was fully functional. Sure enough the light started flashing and the klaxon sounded.

"It's working Brains. Good job!" Scott said.

Brains replied "F.A.B. You can come in now Scott."

Alan looked around him disappointed. It had been half an hour and yet he hadn't seen anything that he hadn't seen before. Sighing, he sat down on a rock and got out his map of the tunnels that he drawn himself, looking for any big blank spaces where there could be more tunnels. He ran his fingers through his hair which was full of dust and dirt as he looked at the map. He saw a blank space that was quite near where he was at that moment. He began to head towards it, a new glint of hope in his eyes. In about 5 minutes he had reached the edge of it.

"There just has to be _something_ around here." He said. After another 20 minutes he had almost given up hope. He looked over at a pile of rocks and began to dislodge them. He decided that he would work from the top and progress downwards. After dislodging the first bolder, a small gap appeared. Alan now practically shaking with excitement peeped through the hole. To his delight there were more tunnels beyond it. Quickly, Alan began to remove the rest of the rocks so that there was a big enough gap for him to get through. Once he was on the other side he began to make his way down the tunnels, trying to memorize the position of every stalagmite and stalactite. Some time later he was studying some sort of crystal formation on the cave wall when his watch vibrated. He looked down to see his father's face staring back at him.

"Where are you son? Your dinners going to be ready in 5 minutes. Get back here!" Jeff said.

"Sorry dad, it's just I found some new caves and I must have lost track of the time." Alan said.

"That's all right Alan just make sure you back soon, otherwise your carbonara is going to be cold!" Jeff said, then Alan's watch when black. So, how to get back to the villa in 5 minutes, this was going to be interesting. He heard a rock fall to the ground behind him making him jump. When he turned around he saw someone peering out from behind a large stalagmite. Before he could get a proper look, they ducked behind it again.

Alan was still shaken by the sudden appearance of the mystery person, but he sounded confident when he said, "Who's there?" When there was no answer he slowly made his way towards the stalagmite pulling out his gun that he kept on him at all times.

"Please don't kill me." a young female voice said from behind it. _So she can speak English_ Alan thought. "I mean no harm." she said. It sounded like she was almost in tears. Alan lowered his gun but still held it with a firm grip. She may have sounded innocent, but that didn't mean anything.

"Show yourself." Alan said, sternly. He heard her take a deep breath. A couple of seconds later she walked out from behind the pile of rock. Her pure white hair was covering her face. She was wearing tattered clothes and looked about the same age, maybe a bit older. Unlike Alan expected she looked a healthy size rather than anorexic. There were two things that made Alan freeze with shock though. Her skin was so pale it was almost white. And when she looked up at him, Alan could see that through the strands of her hair her eyes were a deep violet.

Scott finished his dinner, then went and stood on the balcony to watch the sun set. He was shortly followed by Gordon. They began to talk about what had been on each others minds recently. It wasn't long before Virgil finished and then began to practise his latest piece on the piano. Just before Scott could tell Gordon about his recent thoughts on relationships, he spotted Alan running up the garden path.

"There you are Alan! Grandma put your dinner back in the oven to keep it warm." Scott started, then he saw Alan's expression, "Hey are you okay Alan?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost! What happened?" Gordon asked.

"That exactly Gordon." Alan said, traumatized.

"There are no such things as ghost, Alan. How could you have possibly seen one?" Virgil asked joining them on the balcony.

"She wasn't a real ghost, she was just very ghost like." Alan said, wide-eyed.

"Who, Alan? What are you talking about?" Virgil asked.

"The girl in the cave. She said her name is Sarah Haveston and that she lives here." Alan explained.

"Look. Why don't you take a shower and then go and have a lie down." Scott said.

"You don't believe me do you?" Alan asked in disbelief. Scott, Virgil and Gordon looked at each other, wondering what they could say next. "Very well then. I'll go and get her!" and with that, Alan ran back down the garden path and out of sight.

"No Alan! Wait!" Gordon called out but it was too late. He was gone.

"Sarah!" Alan whispered, "Sarah, are you there?" His hushed voice echoed along the tunnel. He had hold of his gun again.

"So you're back then. Why won't you go home and leave my island?" She asked from behind him, causing him to jump again.

"This is _our_ island. We live here." Alan told her.

"We?" she asked. "So there are more of you?"

"Yes and we live here." He repeated.

"Very well then… prove it!" She said.

"I will! Follow me!" Alan snapped.

"Lead the way." She said. After quarter of an hour of walking Sarah was first to brake the silence.

"So… what's you're name? You know mine so I should know yours." she asked.

"Alan. Alan Tracy." He replied. Suddenly, Sarah gasped and clutched her chest. "Are you okay?" Alan asked. She nodded.

"Don't worry about me. I'm used to it." Alan gave her an uncertain look and then shrugged it off and carried on walking. She looked at him. He looked kind of alien to her with skin that was several tones darker than hers, blond hair and blue eyes. She saw a light in the distance.

"We're almost there now." Alan said interrupting her thoughts.

Scott sat down on the sofa and opened his book. He was beginning to worry about Alan. What if one of the caves collapsed, with him inside. No, Alan would use his watch to get help. But what if his watch was broken. Scott sighed. He knew he had a reputation of worrying too much. He had read one sentence when his watch started to vibrate. It was Alan.

"Alan! Where are you? Are you okay?" Scott blurted out.

"Scott, I'm fine but it's Sarah. She collapsed. She said something about being used to it. Please can you come and help get her back to the villa? I'll be outside the main cave entrance." Alan asked, worried. Scott sighed.

"If this is a joke, you are in serious trouble." Scott said and then hung up. Then he went back inside and put his book back up on the shelf. He then briskly made his way towards Thunderbird 2's hanger where he would collect 2 hover bikes and then leave to meet Alan.

Alan put Sarah into the recovery position and walked outside to wait for Scott. So they still didn't believe him did they? Well they would soon. It wasn't long before Alan could hear a hover bike approaching and could see the light from the headlamp. Within seconds Scott was in view on his blue hover bike towing Alan's along behind it.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"She's just inside the entrance." Alan answered. "I've put her in recovery position."

"Have you checked her pulse?" Scott asked.

"Its normal." said Alan.

"Well, let's go get her then." Scott said. They both ran into the cave. Scott froze when he saw her, not in shock as Alan had but in wonder. To him, she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Alan saw him standing there and smiled.

"I know. Terrifying, isn't she?" Alan said.

"Stunning more like." Scott said.

"What was that?" Alan asked.

"Nothing!" Said Scott, joining Alan by her side. "Let's try and wake her up. It will make things a lot easier."

"Sarah? Sarah can you hear me?" Alan said, gently shaking her shoulder. She groaned and opened her eyes. Scott gave a little gasp as her saw her eyes for the first time. The dark purple was almost hypnotizing.

"Who is he?" She asked Alan, groggily. _She sounds like an angel_ Scott thought.

"This is Scott my older brother. We're going to take you back to villa, is that okay?" Alan said.

"There's a villa?" she asked wondering how on earth she never knew this.

"Can you walk?" Scott asked.

"Of course I can!" She said getting up shakily only to fall into Scott's arms.

"Yes, I can see that." He said sarcastically.

"Would you like some help, Scott?" Alan asked, smiling at the joke.

"No thanks Alan. I've got her." Scott replied. Then the two brothers turned around and took the mysterious girl back to the hover bikes.

On the way back, Scott called Virgil via his watch.

"Oh she's real all right." Scott said.

"But how can you be sure?" Virgil asked.

"Because I'm giving her a lift back to the villa on my hover bike." Scott said.

"Hello!" Sarah said peeping over Scott's shoulder at the watch. She was amazed by the fact that they were hovering at that moment and was therefore in a really good mood. Virgil froze with shock at her sudden appearance.

"See?" Scott said.

"I'll go and warn Gordon." Virgil said slowly. "What will father think about this?"

"I don't know. We'll have to wait and find out."

"F.A.B." Virgil said and hung up.

"Who was that and who's Gordon?" Sarah asked.

"They're our other brothers." Alan said pulling up along side them.

"So there are more of you?" she asked.

"Yes, mam!" said Alan.

"We've even got one more brother but he's err… elsewhere." Scott added.

"And then there's Tin-Tin, father, grandma, Kyrano and Brains." Alan said.

"Wow. Are they all related to you?" Sarah asked.

"No. God no! Brains is our scientist, Kyrano is our house keeper and cook and Tin-Tin is his daughter." Alan replied. _And your future wife probably_ Scott thought.

"How old are you?" She asked Scott.

"Well… why do you want to know?" He asked her.

"Just curious." She said.

"I'm 26 and he's 21." Scott said gesturing to Alan. "What about you?"

"I'm about 24, give or take a year." She replied mysteriously.

"Hmm…" Scott said, thoughtful.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Alan.

"Nothing. Oh look! We're here." Scott said, pointing to the lights in the distance coming from the house.

"There really is a villa." Sarah said. Scott gave Alan a look as if to say, "It's a little bit more than just a villa." At this Alan started laughing

"What's so funny Alan?" Sarah asked.

"Umm, you just reminded me of a funny clip from a movie I saw once." Alan said, quickly making up a feeble excuse.

When they arrived next to the swimming pool, Scott spotted Gordon and Virgil on the balcony, waiting for them. As soon as they saw them they came running down the stairs to meet them. Gordon gasped and froze when he saw her.

"I did warn you." Virgil said.

Two months later…"But when will they be back, Mr Tracy?" Sarah asked Jeff.

"I'll just ask Scott." He replied, reaching down to press one of the many buttons behind his desk. "Scott. What is you ETA?" he asked via the vid-screen.

"I should be home in exactly 1 minute father." Scott said and then added, "Hey Sarah!"

"Alright you two, you'll see each other in a minute." Jeff said before Sarah could reply. Scott laughed.

"See you then, then!" He said and hung up. Sarah quickly ran out on to the porch to watch Thunderbird 1 land. She loved the way the swimming pool slid back to reveal the crafts hanger. It amazed her every time. Her favourite feature of Tracy Island was the palm trees that fell back whenever Thunderbird 2 took off or landed but she would never tell Scott that. She shaded her eyes from the sunlight even though she was wearing sun glasses. Her sensitive eyes still weren't used to the sun's light. She saw Thunderbird 1 in the distance and gave a thumbs up to Jeff who then pushed a different button on his desk and watched the pool slide back. 1 minute later and the wall rotated and Scott walked into the room.

"I'm back! Phew! That was a tough one." he said.

"Scott!" cried Sarah hugging him.

"Whoa!" Scott said, stumbling back a couple of steps. Jeff laughed.

"Why don't you go and get changed Scott and then you two young lovers can go out for a walk around the Island. I need to finish these documents." He said.

"So how was it?" she asked him.

"How was what?" Scott asked.

"The rescue silly!" said Sarah. They had done what Jeff suggested and had walked to their favourite spot on the Island, the main cave's mouth. It was their favourite for two reasons: 1) it was the place they had first met that night 2 months ago and, 2) it was half in his world, half in her world.

"Oh! It was… just like any other mission." Scott said, knowing what was coming next.

"Tell me what happened." She asked.

"Well, it's kind of a long story." Scott said.

"I've got the time." She said. Scott smiled lovingly at her.

"Come here you!" He said, hugging her. "I love you."

"I love you too." She said, pulling back a bit. Scott gazed into her violet eyes and she gazed into his dark blue eyes. Slowly they edged nearer and nearer to each other until Sarah reached up and kissed Scott on the lips. He kissed her back. Sure, he knew that she had a serious condition with her heart that meant she only had 5 more months left to live but he didn't care. He'll deal with that when it comes.


End file.
